Gameday: Bruins and Leafs conclude home and home

(Photo by Joe Makarski/BruinsDaily) Bruins captain Zdeno Chara and company look to snap out of their current slump when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs in the latter half of the home and home tonight at the TD Garden

Having won just once in their last four games, the Boston Bruins are searching for solutions rather than excuses. With new lines and all, the Black and Gold look to bounce back and avenge Saturday night’s 3-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight at the TD Garden.

Despite their slump, the Bruins (43 points) still find themselves within striking distance of the Montreal Canadiens, who currently have a two-point lead in the Northeast Division standings. A win over the Leafs will give the Black and Gold the division lead at the end of the night. The Habs come to Boston Wednesday night, and before that, travel to Pittsburgh on Tuesday to face the red-hot Penguins.

The Leafs, meanwhile, come into tonight in sixth place in the East and trail the Bruins by six points for second place in the Northeast. Toronto, who is 4-3-3 in its last 10, lead the seventh place New Jersey Devils by one point and is four points in front of the eighth seeded New York Rangers.

Having scored just six goals in their last four contests, its safe to say that all 12 Bruins forwards are on the radar. But for the sake of this preview, lets highlight Milan Lucic again, shall we?

Lucic unquestionably is in a major cold spell and its safe to say that Julien needed to bump him down to the third line, which has been another sore spot for the Black and Gold. The sixth-year forward hasn’t lit the lamp in over a month and that’s probably the least of his concerns. When he struggled to score in the past, Lucic was at least engaging others with his physical presence, and even that hasn’t been seen over the last several games.

Maybe Lucic’s move to the third line will be that wake up call he needs, and perhaps his new compadre’s Rich Peverley and Jordan Caron will also benefit from his presence.

Leafs to watch

We kept an eye on him last game and we’ll certainly keep the spotlight on Nazem Kadri again tonight.

The former first round pick scored the game’s first goal in the Leafs’ victory Saturday and has nine points (three goals, six assists) in his last four games. And after being ridiculed for not living up to his potential from Toronto fans the past few seasons, it looks like he’s found a rhythm as he leads his team in scoring with 34 points (14 goals, 20 assists); good for eighth in the National Hockey League. I guess there’s a reason that Don Cherry keeps praising him on Hockey Night in Canada after all.

After serving a two-game suspension, Joffery Lupul (three goals and one assist in five games this season) returns to the Leafs lineup. We’ll see how he responds after reacting to the Rick Nash hit on Tomas Kopecky via Twitter – one that did not warrant a suspension according to Brendan Shanahan.

Bruins linkage

While Brendan Morrow was traded from Dallas to Pittsburgh yesterday, CSNNE’s Joe Haggerty says the Bruins made a significant offer to acquire the ex-Stars forward. After seeing that, I can only imagine what it will take to get Jarome Iginla in a Black and Gold uniform.